Seat back



Oct. 16, 1956 R, G. BRooKs ETAL SEAT BACK Filed April 22, 1953 Fig.4

mm 5 m1 6 M m cm 7 am 4 2 United States Patent SEAT BACK Robert G.Brooks and Robert E. Williams, Chicago, Ill., assignors to NationalSeating Company, Mansfield, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio ApplicationApril 22, 1953, Serial No. 350,449

3 Claims. (Cl. 155-479) 1 This invention relates as indicated to seatbacks and more particularly to an improved back designed for use in seatconstructions such as commonly found in airplanes, railroad passengercoaches, and long distance buses, intended to seat two persons inside-by-side relation.

The familiar seating arrangement of such carriers consists essentiallyof a center aisle extending longitudinally of the carrier body, such asa bus coach, and longitudinally spaced seat units to each side of thisaisle, each designed to accommodate two persons seated side-by-side.Such seat units, comprised of generally horizontal and generallyvertical support portions, may be unitary in whole or in part or maycomprise two closely adjacent individual seats, all seats, however,facing in a forward direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of thecarrier body. As a result, passengers seated alongside each othernormally face in parallel directions and this characteristic, coupledwith the proximity of the two persons, precludes any individual feelingof separation. Center arm rests and ribs assist in tending physically toseparate the passengers, but their mental awareness of each otherspresence remains, since each is within the others normal field of visionthough facing straight ahead.

It is a primary object of our invention to provide back support meansfor use in double seat structures which affords psychological, as wellas physical, separation of the two persons seated therein.

It is a further object of our invention to provide such back supportmeans whereby the two passengers seated side-by-side are caused normallyto face slightly away from each other, thus removing each from theothers normal range of vision while facing directly ahead.

An additional object is to provide seat backs of this nature which mayreadily be manufactured and used with existing seat constructions.

A further additional object is the provision of a molded rubber seatback having a laterally offset concave surface whereby such back, whenmounted at the rear edge of a seat, will face slightly to one sidethereof.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as y the followingdescription proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but afew of the various Ways in which the principle of the invention may beemployed.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a seat construction provided with ourimproved back support means;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section as viewed from the plane of line 2--2 inFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing two persons occupying the seat; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse section illustrating the preferred icecross-sectional shape of an individual molded rubber back.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the seat unit shown in Figs. 1to 3 will be readily recognized as of the type now commonly used in longdistance buses, railroad passenger coaches, airplanes and the like, toseat two persons in side-by-side relation. The unit is conventionallyintended to project outwardly from a wall of the carrier body at rightangles to the longitudinal axis thereof, so that occupants of the seatwill face generally in the direction of travel.

The unit comprises a generally horizontal seat portion 19 of requisitewidth, which is suitably supported at its sides by means of legs 11. Armrests 12 and 13 are provided at such sides as in conventionalconstruction. Mountedat the rear edge of the seat portion are tworesilient seat backs indicated generally at 14 and 15 which are ofrectangular shape and have thickened upper transverse portions 16 and17, respectively, to provide head rolls for the seat occupants.

As shown in Fig. 2, the construction includes a conventional frame forsupporting the seat backs 14 and 15 in side-by-side relation with theirinner sides closely adjacent at the approximate center of the seat. Thisframe includes the symmetrically rounded pressed metal plates 18 and 19and the respectively associated tubular structural members 20 and 21.Each back is preferably supported independently of the other to provide.an independent pivotal connection with the seat frame thereby enablingthe backs to be adjusted to varying inclinations as in the. well-knownreclining type of seat. The metal plates 18 and 19 face uniformlyforwardly of the seat and their lateral edges lie substantially within asingle plane whichintersects the plane of the seat portion 10 in astraight line normal to the directional, or fore and aft, axis of suchportion. The seat backs 14 and 15 disposed against these plates aregenerally similar, but are of right and left hand configuration asshown.

The front surfaces 22 and 23 of the seat backs are uniformly laterallycurved concavely and the inner adjacent sides 24 and 25 thereof arethicker than the respective outer sides 26, 27. As a result, the twoconcavities formed are offset from the center of the seat, that is, theyface slightly away from such center to opposite sides.

The center of the seat is indicated by the line AA in Fig. 2, while thedirectional axes of the seat backs 14 and 15 are indicated respectivelyby the lines BB and CC. It will be seen that the axes BB and CC eachextend at an angle a relative to the center line A--A, and that theoccupants of the seat, therefore, tending normally to face along theseaxes, will face slightly away from each other, as illustrated in Fig. 3.The central section of the back support means, due to the unequalthickness of the sides of the backs 14 and 15, is built-up, that is, itprojects forwardly of the respective outer sides to separate the seatoccupants physically. The backs are covered with suitable upholsteryfabric, which may additionally enclose the supporting metal plates, ifdesired.

Each seat back is preferably formed of foam rubber molded to thecross-sectional shape shown in Fig. 4. The opposite front edges 28 and29 of the rubber blank lie normally within the same plane while thefront surface 30 curves uniformly concavely therebetween. The rearsurface 31 is generally convex, but its axis of curvature is laterallyoffset relative to the axis of the curvature of the surface 30, so thatthe thickness of the blank will vary and one side 32 will be of greaterthickness than the opposite side 33. The front and rear surfaces,therefore, face at an angle to each other, and when a blank of thisshape is supported by one of the metal plates 18 or 19 engaging the rearside edges in substantially the same plane, the edge 29 will projectforwardly of the edge 28 and the blank will deform to cause the concavefront surface 30 to face toward a side of the seat. Molding to thiscross-sectional shape enables the back to be readily installed inexisting seat constructions since no modification of the conventionalback supporting frame is required. e

The seat backs may, however, be formed directly to the shape which theymaintain in supported position, such as shown in Fig. 2, or may bemodified to fit varying types of supporting frames provided each back inoperative position has the ofiset concavity feature disclosed. It willbeapparent that a double seat in accordance with our invention maycomprise individual backs as shown in the drawing or a unitary back ofdouble width provided with laterally offset concavities. Likewise, thehorizontal seat portion may be unitary orcomprised of two separate partsas desired.

' It is to be noted that our seat backs effectively separate theoccupants of a double seat without requiring any enlargement of thehorizontal seat portion or other modification thereof which wouldrequire additional space for the unit. The entire seat portionordinarily faces directly forward while the backs alone may be relied ontoseparate the seated persons.

Other'modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the' following' claims, or the equivalent ofsuch, be employed. t

We therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as ourinvention:

f" 1. In vehicle chair construction, a rectangular substantiallyhorizontal seat portion of such extent as to accommodate two passengersthereon, and back support means extending upwardly from the rearlongitudinal edge of said seat portion, the outer side edges of suchback support being substantially planar respectively with the ends ofthe seat portion in substantially parallel planes,

fa vertical central section of the back support projecting forwardly toa greater extent than the side margins of the same, the front surface ofthe support to each side of a such forwardly projecting section beinglaterally curved uniformly inwardly between the section and the outermargin at the respective side of the support, so as to' form off-setconcavities having divergent directional axes, whereby passengersuniformly supported by such back will normally face away from oneanother.

2. In vehicle chair construction, a rectangular substantially horizontalseat portion of such extent as to accommodate two passengers thereon,and a back support frame extending upwardly from the rear edge of saidseat portion in each longitudinal half thereof, such frames beingarranged closely together at their inner vertical margins and uniformlyoriented with respect to the transverse extent of the seat portion, anda body of resilient material overlying each back support frame, suchbodies being thicker at their inner vertical margins than at theirrespective outer margins to form generally central forwardly projectingback sections, the front surface of each body being uniformly laterallycurved inwardly between its vertical margins, so that the two suchsurfaces defineoffset concavities having divergent directional axes,whereby passengers'uniformly supported by such back portions willnormally face away from one another.

3. A chair construction as defined in claim 2 character ized further inthat such resilient bodies are elongated molded foam rubber cushionshaving longitudinal margins of unequal thickness and a front surfacewhich is curved uniformly therebetween.

I References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS D.150,247 Nichols July 13, 1948 931,106 Westmore Aug. 17, 1909 1,222,175Bobrick Apr. 10, 1917 1,370,886 Genge Mar. 8, 1921 2,281,629 Snow May 5,1942 2,495,654 Ford -l Ian. 24, 1950 2,572,482; Hoven et al. f Oct, 23,1951

